The Last Noble Deed of Cedric Diggory
by MissAllieMae
Summary: How does Cedric feel when Harry and him are looking at the Triwizard Cup? Read to find out. Written for the I'm About to Die competition, ran by A Sirius Crush on Moony


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All of the dialogue in this story is taken from the American edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

A/n: I wrote this for A Sirius Crush On Moony's challenge, entitled I'm About to Die.

I see the trophy. I run faster. I didn't even know I could run this fast. I'm out of breath, and my lungs hurt, but I don't care. I run and run and run. My eyes are locked on the trophy. There is blood pounding in my ears. Finally, the Hufflepuff gets the victory. My house will have something to be proud of, and it's all because of me.

"Cedric!" I suddenly hear my name called. It sounds like Harry. He's trying to distract me, most likely. Even though that doesn't really seem like him.

I hear his voice again. "On your left!" Huh? I take a chance and look to my left, because it is Harry. If this was Krum, I would never do it. But Harry would accept defeat, not try to distract me. There most likely is some unknown danger.

I look. I don't really know what this thing is. I just acknowledge that it is most likely going to hurt me, and that I need to get out of the way.

I need to run even faster to survive. I push my body to another level, one that I have never reached before and one that I will never reach again. I manage to survive it, but barely. I end up tripping though.

I see a spider trying to hurt me. My wand flies out of my hand. I panic. I have no defense. Harry probably doesn't even notice that I am sitting here, stranded. He is probably concentrating on the trophy. I would like to think that if the situations were reversed, I'd help him. But probably not.

Harry proves to be the noble person he is known to be, however, when I hear him yell "Stupefy!" It didn't really work on the giant spider, though. He continues to throw spells at the monster. "Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!" This only aggravates the spider, though. The spider is distracted from me, though. He lifts Harry in the air. Harry began to try to kick the spider. I attempt to breathe, and then I find my wand. I start shooting at the spider. I use the same spells, though, and once again, they have no effect. Harry tries a disarming spell. I guess that could cause the spider to drop Harry.

It works. Harry is dropped. It's a twelve foot drop that leaves Harry laying on the ground, with his already hurt leg crumpled beneath him.

At this point, I am panicking. I need to help Harry. I need to get rid of the spider, if we want to survive. I don't even care about winning right now. It was just survival at this point in time. I attempt another "Stupefy!" because I don't know what else to do.

Apparently, Harry had the same idea. The combined force works, and the spider falls onto a hedge. I am worried that some of the spider landed on Harry, though.

"Harry!" I call, scared. "You all right? Did it fall on you?"  
>Harry's negative response calms me down a bit, but not much. He was panting a lot as he gave a one word answer. I can see that his leg is bleeding, and there is some sort of spider substance all over his robes. His robes were a torn mess.<p>

I watch, as he attempts to stand up. He is helpless. His leg is shaking. It's not going to support his body. He leans against the smashed hedge. He can't breathe, nor can he move. He looks around.

I realize that I am so close to the Cup. I could easily take it. But, I can't do that. If I was the hurt one, Harry would never do that. I admire the younger Gryffindor for his selflessness and bravery. I would have sent red sparks by now.

"Take it, then," Harry manages to get out. "Go on, take it. You're there."

He has realized the same thing I had. I don't move, though. I can't take advantage of him like that. I look at him standing there helpless. I could never live with myself if I took it. I look at the cup, weighing my options.

I really want that cup, and I think he knows it, too. But I can't do it. Oh, but the honor it would bring Hufflepuff. I don't know what to do. I turn to look at Harry again.

He is clutching the hedge. I can't bring myself to take it. I take a deep breath, and say "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck." As much as I am internally cringing, I know that it is the right thing to do. Without Harry, I would not be standing here right now. Twice in the maze did he help me, and he tipped me off about the dragons. We are even for that, because I told him about the egg and the water.

"That's not how it's supposed to work," he insists. He pauses to catch his breath. I feel so bad right now. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

I begin to walk away from the cup, shaking my head. I need to show him that I am serious about this. There is no way I'm just taking that cup while he watches.

"No," I say, to reinforce the gestures.

"Stop being noble," Harry sounds irritated. I'm not the noble one, though. He is. I feel myself getting annoyed with this situation, and with Harry. He continues, saying "Just take it, then we can get out of here." The longer we stand debating this, the longer he is in pain, and the more time before Madame Pomfrey can look at his injury. But still, I can't take the cup. He is trying to keep himself steady. He is hanging on for dear life to that plant.

"You told me about the dragons," I say, going back to why I am indebted to him. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too," he counteracts. He is attempting to clean up his wound. I want to help, but know that it is better for me to stay where I am. He continues, saying "You helped me with the egg-we're square."

I knew this, but that wasn't quite fair. "I had help on the egg in the first place," I admit.

"We're still square," he insists. He tests his leg, but it just shakes.

"You should've got more points on the second task," I say, trying to sound convincing. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that." Why is he so noble?

He counteracts that. "I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously." I should have taken it more seriously. The fact that he did shows that he is really the better wizard, at least when it comes to the real world. "Just take the cup!" He screams at me.

"No," I say stubbornly. There is no way I can take it. I join Harry at the hedge. I will not win this, because of Harry's injury.

It was difficult, but I encourage him. "Go on." He looks at me and the cup. He looks at me, again, after a couple of seconds of consideration.

"Both of us," he says decidedly.

"What?" I am confused, now.

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it." He has a good point, but I am still sort of confused.

"You-you sure?" I ask, making sure this what he wants.

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah….we've helped each other our, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

This fourth year is a bloody genius, I realize. I break into a grin, and tell him, "You're on. Come here."

I grab his arm, and help Harry limp his way to the cup. We make it, and each reach out one hand.

"On three, right?" Harry confirms. This is perfect.

He begins to count, "one-two-three-"

We both grab a handle.

I feel a jerk.

My feet lift off the ground.

I am scared, confused.

My hand won't leave the cup.

I am being pulled into a howl of wind and swirling color.

Harry is right next to me.

I am terrified. I don't know what is happening.

My feet slam into the ground. So do Harry's. The impact is too much for his leg, and he collapses. He raises his head up.

"Where are we?" He asks, nervously.

I am afraid. My voice won't work, so I just shake my head. I get up off the ground, and give Harry a much needed hand. I look around, and can safely say that we were not at Hogwarts anymore. I realize that the cup was a Portkey.

I ask him if he knew that it was a Portkey. He says he didn't know.

He looks around. I realize that we are in a graveyard.

He asks, "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

It didn't make sense. This whole scene was making me nervous. "I dunno. Wands out, d'you reckon?" The one thing I learned from Defense Against the Dark Arts was that in times like this, pull out your wand.

"Yeah," he says. We do so. Harry continued to look around, as though he felt he was being watched.

"Someone's coming," he tells me. I am scared. I don't know what to expect, or what to do. I am a measly Hufflepuff, while Harry is a Gryffindor, who has faced all sorts of horrors before.

We watch someone walk closer to us. The person was short, and he is wearing a cloak that hid his face. He reminds me of a Death Eater. I see that the person is holding something that looked quite similar to a baby. It stops six feet away, looking at us. We stare back.

Next to me, Harry slightly lowers his wand and looks at me. I send a confused look back. We don't know what to do, so we look back at the man.

All of a sudden, Harry drops his wand and puts his hands over his face. He is on the ground and he is terrifying me. I have no idea what just happened, or what to do.

I watch as he kneels, seemingly in pain. I am concentrated on Harry, not knowing how to help.

I hear a whispered spell, and look up in time to see a green light coming my way.

A/N: Now that I am done with this, I can go study for my Earth Science Regents that I have to take tomorrow. Eeeppp

I hope you liked it. Go review it, now. The reviews will help me calm down about my test.


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